Houston baby tests positive for Zika

By Todd Ackerman, Houston Chronicle

July 13, 2016

Photo: Ricardo Mazalan, STF / Associated Press

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2016, file photo of aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen in a mosquito cage at a laboratory in Cucuta, Colombia. Top U.S. officials are urging Puerto Rico on Wednesday, July 6, to strongly consider aerial spraying to prevent further spread of mosquito-borne Zika, saying as many as 50 pregnant women on the island are infected every day and warns it's only a matter of time before Puerto Rico sees babies born with microcephaly, a rare birth defect linked to Zika infections. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2016, file photo of aedes aegypti...

Harris County Public Health officials on Wednesday confirmed the first case of a baby born in Texas with Zika-related microcephaly, the birth defect characterized by a smaller head.

The baby boy tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus in lab results that came back this week, officials said. His mother was infected in Colombia and delivered the baby in Harris County. The mother’s test results, which came back before the baby’s, were considered inconclusive because she showed signs of Zika and dengue fever.

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“Our hearts go out to the family,” said Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health. “Microcephaly is one of the worst tragedies related to Zika virus infection.”

The case of microcephaly is the first diagnosed in Texas. Both county and state health officials are bracing for the Zika virus to potentially spread this summer during mosquito breeding season. There have been 59 confirmed cases in the state thus far, including six in Bexar County.

Shah said that the boy was born, prematurely, several weeks ago and that his mother was a resident of Colombia when she was infected early in her pregnancy. She came to an unincorporated part of Harris County during her third trimester and is living here now. Shah would not divulge more details about the mother or baby for privacy reasons.

Microcephaly is the most common birth defect associated with Zika. It can result in seizures, developmental delays with speech or motor function, intellectual disability, feeding problems, and hearing and vision problems. Research into the relationship between Zika and microcephaly is just beginning.

“We can expect that this will be the first of many cases of microcephaly in Houston, stemming from the epidemic that moved into Colombia, Central America and the Caribbean,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital. “We’re in for a long summer, I’m afraid.”

Hotez referred to “the neurodevastation,” or harm to the nervous system, the infection causes. And Dr. David Lakey, former commissioner for the Texas Department of State Health Services and now chief medical officer for the University of Texas System, said that there’s not only “an enormous cost due to the lost human potential for each baby, there will be a large economic cost, with estimates as high as $10 million per child with microcephaly in health-care costs over their life span.”

There is only supportive treatment for microcephaly.

Shah reminded individuals traveling to areas where Zika has been identified — Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Mexico, among other places — to wear long-sleeved clothing and use insect repellent, including the chemical DEET.

Zika virus is spread primarily through the bite of the Aedes species mosquito. Symptoms are usually mild and include fever, rash, conjunctivitis and joint-pain, lasting several days to a week. Anyone developing symptoms of the virus, should immediately contact a physician, Shah said.

Severe cases of Zika requiring hospitalization are uncommon and death is rare. There is, however, no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat the virus.